Many small ecommerce businesses are one-to-five person shops whose income is derived solely from their websites. As the ecommerce world evolves and becomes more sophisticated, however, success for these smaller merchants has become more challenging.

Through the past year, certainly a harrowing one economically, we have seen quite a few smaller site owners thrive. We have also seen a significant number succumb to the current economic conditions. Here are six factors we see for those who are achieving success.

According to research from Webvisible and Nielsen, reported by Marketing Charts, though 63% of consumers and small business owners turn to the internet first for information about local companies and 82% use search engines to do so, only 44% of small businesses have a website and half spend less than 10% of their marketing budget online.

The research finds an accelerating trend toward online media for local search. However, the report says the study uncovers a significant disconnect between the way small business owners act as consumers vs. the way they market their businesses online.

The survey found that search engines are the most popular source for finding local information:

Measuring the increased traffic and sales from a search-engine-optimization initiative is among the most challenging issues site owners face. Frequently, when I’m starting a new SEO program with a client, the seemingly simple question of “What’s your goal?” is met with a pause. It’s not that these clients are SEO neophytes or that the companies aren’t disciplined and committed to their online presence. It’s that determining cause and effect is confusing work in the fuzzy area that is SEO. If you don’t know how to measure where you are today for SEO, it’s pretty tricky to define a measurable, realistic goal for the future.